Thursday, September 29, 2011

Ending the wars: Is now the time that your contribution will really count?

The first few days of October, 2011 ... If you can do just one thing by the time this weekend is over, please simply read the rest of this blog post, and think about how events are going to unfold in the next few days, and think about what you want to do to make a difference!

Monday October 3 ... Now is the time we must: Use the power of Twitter to draw people into the #AfghanistanTuesday conversation. If you've ever felt the willingness to pitch in and REALLY spread the word, now is the time! Because THIS #AfghanistanTuesday is gonna be SPECIAL . . . .

Tuesday October 4 ... #AfghanistanTuesday! We have wide-ranging conversations every week on #AfghanistanTuesday, but I want to suggest that this week we need to give special attention to the protests themselves. With protests just days away, now is the time we must: Get people to find their local action! When people join up with others near them, protesting the war ceases to be solely theoretical and begins to become a reality. There is a list of many actions nationwide (and worldwide) on the website for the Chicago protest; I predict that as the hours pass, the number of local protests will grow too fast for this list to keep up with!

Saturday, October 8 (or thereabouts) ... when people are together with others, protesting the war. Now is the time we must: Get people to make a commitment! What are they going to do to make a difference in this problem? What time will they commit? What promise will they make to themselves that will make sure they don't fail to contribute to the solution of this problem?

What can YOU do to be an active participant in driving toward COMMITMENT on the part of millions of people to end our wars?

Related posts

Join one of the groups that led the October 8, 2011, march against the Afghanistan War in Chicago entitled "US/NATO Out of Afghanistan NOW!"

One of the things I realized as the #AfghanistanTuesday conversations have progressed, is that everyone needs to be spreading message. Not only that: everyone needs to be spreading the message that everyone needs to be spreading the message!

I think it is very likely that, during the course of those protests, we are going to hear people say, "Continued U.S. war -- in Afghanistan and elsewhere -- can no longer be accepted as consistent with any possible understanding of God's will for God's Kingdom -- if, indeed, it ever could be."

Where will that leave those of us in the audience who consider ourselves Christians?

One response, of course, is simply to say, "I don't want to think about this . . . . "

Another possible response is to nod in agreement -- to murmur inwardly, "I'm with you in spirit" -- and then go back to one's other concerns.

And the third and final possible response is to embrace this statement and start to live it.

We are all going to have to decide where we stand. And so, again, I ask: Where will the Church be on October 9, 2011?

Is there any reason for the Church not to embrace an antiwar stance? Some people believe an antiwar stance is too risky for the Church. An antiwar stance may anger some existing members, or scare away potential members. But is that position -- whether or not it is defensible -- even accurate? As a friend of mine put it in a message to me yesterday: "It's so maddening to me when the Church, in this day and age, with everything that's at stake, won't take a stand for fear of losing members. In my opinion, the numbers of members would probably rise if they did take principled stands on the things they should be addressing."

Many churches across Chicago, on October 9, 2011, relying on the common lectionary, will read lessons that include the Matthew 22:1-14 parable of the guests at the wedding: "So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find." The parable features a somewhat mercurial wedding host, one who becomes irate at heedless invitees, then expansively invites "anyone you find," and then becomes irate again at an attendee who seems willing to enjoy the festivities -- to "be there in spirit" -- but who can't be bothered to carry his own share of the responsibility by dressing the part. What is this supposed to tell us about God's will for God's Kingdom?

Is it possible that this parable is telling us that it's no longer acceptable to passively nod in agreement -- -- to murmur inwardly, "I'm with you in spirit" -- and then to go back to our other concerns? Is it possible that God's will for God's Kingdom is for a world without war, and that God is issuing an invitation to every child of God, every single one of the saints that collectively make up the Church, to become an active worker for peace, and against war? And if it is, how can any of us give short shrift to this invitation? Certainly vast numbers of people are already answering the call.

And so, again, I ask: Where will the Church be on October 9, 2011?

Related posts

In gratitude to John Kass, and in keeping with what I perceive to be our
shared desire to place our faith "in the world" and share the good news
(while at the same time not turning people off with too much Jesus
talk) -- in short, keeping my tough guy cred intact -- I herewith share
some scenes from my Holy Week 2014.

One place I've focused my activism is my church community. Last fall,
at the time of the Afghanistan invasion anniversary, I posed the
question, "Where is the Church?"
In the weeks and months that followed, I realized that I, myself, had
to be part of the solution of giving direction to the Church.

"We will discuss replacing the violence of militarism with a community of peacemaking that will not channel our children into the service because they are poor. We will speak of using budgets at every level of government to ensure fairness and equality – two of the cornerstones of peace."

Saturday, September 24, 2011

But what happens on October 9? Where do we go after the marching and shouting and protesting is over?

Do you have a view on what should happen next? How do we move forward in an organized way? How do we make the best use of the momentum gained on October 8? How do we keep from losing steam?

Please comment here!

Related posts

Of course, there weremany messages. But the message (or
messages) that matter is/are the one(s) the public is actually able to
hear. (Yes, and what we, ourselves, hear ... but at the end of the day
are we talking to ourselves or to the public?)

Many of us who weren't in Pakistan to participate in the massive rally against U.S. drone strikes participated in this protest
by holding rallies where we were (for instance, in London), or by
participating virtually via the #PakistanAgainstDrones campaign on Twitter.

This
exchange has always stuck with me, because once you peel away the
hopeless competitiveness and lack of compassion of these two characters,
you are left with a grain of truth: if you want to succeed, you need to go where the conversation is taking place. The question for us: are we willing to check our egos at the door and get busy talking to people?

I believe that the single most powerful thing any of us can do is to use the power of our Facebook accounts to encourage as many people as possible to actively participate in the protests that will take place in Chicago and elsewhere on October 8.

We all believe that change will only come through the combined effort of the people -- and social media gives us exponential power to pull people into participating. So ... please ... TODAY ...

Then -- and this is the important part -- click on the box in the upper left that says "+ Select Guests to Invite". Please take the time to invite as many of your friends as possible. (Remember: they may not live where the event is taking place, but they may know others that they can invite!) (See note 1 below for more help on this!)

(2) SPEAK OUT on Facebook

Use your Facebook wall to tell people you are participating -- and why. All you have to do is paste the address ( http://tinyurl.com/facebookOct8 ) into your FB status -- the yellow icon and event description will show up. You can then write over the link that you had pasted, writing something to tell people why this is so important to you.

(When I reached out to my friend Kazashi -- a peace worker in the anti-depleted uranium movement in Hiroshima -- this is how he responded.)

As more and more people see those yellow boxes popping up on their FB news feed, they will start to get the idea, "Hey, maybe this is what I should be doing ...!"

(3) REACH OUT using email

Please email this message -- that's right, just cut and paste the whole thing -- individually to 10 (or more!) other people -- preferably people outside the usual circle of people with whom you talk about these issues. (We need to reach everybody.) Tell them why you cared enough to particularly send this message to them.

Thank you for everything that ALL of you are doing! So many people are bringing so many diverse gifts to this effort. Please join together in using this one tool that we can all put our efforts into TOGETHER!

I've
discovered that there is a whole group of people who are actively
passing along the latest news about Guantanamo (and a whole range of
other civic affairs), and they can be found by searching on Twitter.
That in turn leads you to certain "hubs" who distribute and redistribute
("retweet") the news on a particular topic. The interaction between
the hubs and the "spokes" allows for incredibly rapid dissemination (and
*digestion*) of the right information by the right people at the right
speed.

As
I read the article, I kept hearing echoes of lessons that I have been
learning in the last several years as I have worked to communicate
online about peace and justice issues. Herewith the top of my hit
parade, with reference to stories from the USA Today newsroom . . . .

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

[This post dates from Fall, 2011, when a group of us launched a campaign on Twitter -- #AfghanistanTuesday, a weekly #twitterstorm of antiwar tweets every Tuesday -- to draw attention to the continuing war in Afghanistan and the failure of Congress to curtail U.S. warmaking.]

An election is coming and the handwriting is on the wall: Tuesdayistas (together with the rest of the American electorate) are gonna throw the bums out.

What do Tuesdayistas foresee for 2012?

Change of government, France, 1789

(Oops! Wrong image . . . . )

What do Tuesdayistas foresee for 2012?

Election 2012: I support ANTI-WAR candidates!(know any?)

Tuesdayistas and others working to end the war have realized that 2012 is an election year and we no longer have to take what we're being offered. From now on we dictate the terms of the political discourse.

Want my attention? Want my vote? Start talking about how you're going to end American wars and drastically reduce military spending.

2012 is going to be a long year . . . especially for politicians who haven't woken up to the antiwar message.

Related posts

Recently, some of us have been wandering the Twittersphere, searching
for a congressman or congresswoman who will speak openly about their
opposition to drone killing and drone surveillance.

Isn't now a moment when, instead of falling back into our existing
habits of trying to change America's war-making ways, we should put our
recent experience under a microscope? And ask what we can learn from
this experience? Can we make 2014 the year that we sort the wheat from
the chaff in Congress? And get the control over war and peace back into
our own hands?

The #AfghanistanTuesday campaign on Twitter involved hundreds of people around the country and around the world, making a commitment to spend time every week on the problem of ending the U.S. military destruction of Afghanistan.

One place I've focused my activism is my church community. Last fall,
at the time of the Afghanistan invasion anniversary, I posed the
question, "Where is the Church?"
In the weeks and months that followed, I realized that I, myself, had
to be part of the solution of giving direction to the Church.

One of the most important outcomes of #AfghanistanTuesday is that #Tuesdayistas get out of their houses and into the streets to work with other Tuesdayistas to end the wars.

Anyone who's been paying attention knows that we can't rely on the media to spread the antiwar message. (If you listened to the media, you'd think there was no antiwar movement in this country, or anywhere else in the world. You might want to ask people in Washington, D.C. about that ... or people in Chicago ... or people in San Francisco ... or people in Las Vegas ... or people in Miami . . . or people in Minneapolis . . . or people in Bloomington, IN . . . or people in Trenton, NJ . . . or . . . .

Tuesdayistas own the streets, and if you're a Tuesdayista there are several ways you can take advantage of this.

First, find out what's happening near you. Just Google the name of the nearest big city and words like "antiwar" or "peace."

Second, put it on your calendar. Make a plan to get out there and participate. (And, yes, that means finding the Facebook event page, and marking "I'm attending" . . . because . . . )

Third, invite others. That's what Facebook was made for. Don't keep your convictions a secret. You'd be surprised at how many people will say, "Thank you for telling me that you are going to that event. That made me realize I really want to participate, too!" This is called leadership.

Fourth, volunteer. Every antiwar group has an email address or contact form, and I guarantee you that if you say, "I want to help!" your skills and passions will be welcomed and you will really be able to feel that you have made a difference!

Fifth, show up. The single most important thing that a Tuesdayista does is to absolutely, positively participate in person on the big day(s). Tuesdayistas do not know the words, "I have another commitment." They do not say, "I'm with you in spirit." They don't "feel too tired to come." Because they know that there is nothing more invigorating than getting together with actual people who care about making the world better, people who are thinking and doing, and having the opportunity to talk with them and work with them and count them as their friends.

When Chicagoans fully succeed in fully connecting the dots
-- especially to the crimes being committed in their name with their
tax dollars and the weapons produced by their favored corporate citizen,
Boeing -- I think there will be some new and different phone calls
taking place . . .

Sunday, September 18, 2011

I have very clear memories of the '60s and '70s, when the antiwar movement was driven by fear of the draft.

Today we live in a different world. Without the draft, the people have "checked out." It is like Rome ... the legions do the work of empire and the people are kept happy with bread and circus. (Or Starbucks and "Dancing With the Stars," if you prefer.)

You can't get good help these days . . . .

Of course, our government now has to go to the trouble of recruiting volunteers, but our leaders have figured out that they can get most of the work done by a class that supplies its sons (and some daughters) as soldiers, and doesn't really figure out what's happening until those kids' deployments are over or kids themselves become casualties. (See the great new film "Where Soldiers Come From" for a brutal depiction of this reality.)

And we are moving away from even that inconvenience, by figuring out ways to get more and more of our killing done by robots. The fundamental problem of drones is that their pervasive use cuts the people's last ties to their feelings of responsibility for the most serious acts of their government.

The challenge of the antiwar movement is to stop fighting the battles of the past -- addressing a populace that is afraid of the draft -- and to start dealing with this new reality: a populace that has been reduced to being one rung above being robots themselves.

Related posts

In my opinion, the reason to focus on drones is this: when we focus on
drones, the general
public is able to "get," to an unusual extent, the degree to which
popular consent has been banished from the process of carrying out state
violence. (Sure, it was banished long ago, but the absence of a human
in the
cockpit of a drone suddenly makes a light bulb go off in people's
heads.) It takes some prodding, but people can sense that drone use
somehow crosses a line. And that opens up the discussion about how our consent has been eliminated from the vast range of US militarism.

If
the public will join us in asking the question "Who decides?" about
drone executions, I believe they will rapidly come to realize that they
are utterly dissatisfied with what the government is saying.

Friday, September 16, 2011

One of the great things about Twitter is that, when you strike a nerve, you get instant feedback!

This week on #AfghanistanTuesday, there were a small number of tweets that really lit up the retweets. Below, for your consideration, are the greatest hits of Tuesday, September 13, 2011. I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions!

OUR MORAL FAILUREFrom @volksmenner: Stop supporting war. Stop being a coward in fear. Peace is the ultimate courage. Time to be courageous, no more wars! #AfghanistanTuesday

From @MidwestAntiwar: V @DEADHEAD1776 : "There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for." - Gandhi #AfghanistanTuesdayhttp://twitter.com/#!/MidwestAntiwar/status/113600997774991360

VICTIMS OF WARFrom @EvanTKelly: At least 919,967 #people have been #killed in #Afghanistan and #Iraq, based on LOWEST credible estimates. #AfghanistanTuesday #StopTheWars

From @CostsOfWar: #AfghanistanTuesday: In the last two years, children comprise nearly 15% of all civilians killed by war in Afghanistan http://t.co/ekwtZLz

From @AnonNep: #AfghanistanTuesday Enough lives lost in 'collateral damage'. #StopTheWars From 10,000s to 100,000s. From years to decades. #TweetForPeace

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

@(your screen name) PLEASE! Become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista & ask 10 more folks to (become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista & ask 10 more folks to (become...

Tuesdayistas are people who (a) take time each week to participate in a national (and now global) conversation about ending the war in Afghanistan; AND (b) help spread the word by reaching out to others (who will reach out to others (who will reach out to others .... to do the same!

The easy part is part (b) - which you can accomplish by sending 10 specific people (using the @ sign) a Twitter message like this:

@(friend's screen name here)PLEASE! Become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista and ask 10 more folks to (become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista and ask 10 more folks to (become...

The fun part is part (a) - because you are participating in a real conversation based on what you think is important and what you think will be effective in bringing about an end to the war. The important thing is to show up!

Why do people make time on their calendars to work to end the war in Afghanistan on Tuesdays?

For me, I'm not doing it because I like thinking about war. I like thinking about other things -- a lot of other things! Films and flowers ... poetry and painting ... just take a look at the A-Z list on the lower right hand side of this page!

#AfghanistanTuesday is important for me because it reminds me to focus, and because seeing so many other people working enthusiastically to end war gives me hope.

Taking a stand: everyone gets there in their own way. This is how I became a Tuesdayista! So . . .

@(screen name here)PLEASE! Become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista and ask 10 more folks to (become a http://bit.ly/Tuesdayista and ask 10 more folks to (become...

Related posts

In light of the upcoming review of the NPT (Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) and the fact that organizations
throughout the country and worldwide are
organizing to press the U.S. to substantially reduce its stores of
nuclear weapons, it seems like a good time to use social media to get
EVERYONE on board!

I've realized that when we ask ourselves, "What is it that we hope
people will do?" we must include an element of recursivity: One of the things we want people to do is to involve more people in doing it. In
a way, that element of recursivity -- dare I say "evangelism"? --
defines what it means for people to really become part of a movement.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Now some great folks who follow @MidwestAntiwar have started supplying Twitter addresses for congressmen from the rest of the country! So as they come to hand, I am adding them below .... (Thanks, friends!)

That said, there are cities that haven't been heard from, and I'm having trouble imagining that there will not be major antiwar protests in many other places.

I think about Massachusetts: Cambridge, where I went to school, and where we marched around the administration building to protest South African investments; and Lexington, where I used to crisscross Battle Green taking my kids to their after-school activities. Do you really mean to tell me that the Boston area will be silent in October 2011?

I think about Philadelphia, where I lived for 10 years, and where I used to take visiting groups of Chinese business people to see American shrines like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall; and Washington Square Park, where I used to pause to read the inscription, "Freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness," every day as I walked to work ... Do you really mean to tell me that Philadelphia will be silent in October 2011?

I think about Little Rock, where I spent one endless summer helping form a community organization for ACORN. (When I lean back and close my eyes, I can still picture the streets I canvassed and feel the July Little Rock heat.) Even in 1979, Little Rock was already legendary for its role in the history of the civil rights movement and desegregation; though at that time only a very few perceptive observers imagined that within a few years Little Rock would be contributing a native son to the White House ... Do you really mean to tell me that Little Rock will be silent in October 2011?

These are just a few of the places that have been important to me. All of us have places like this. Do you mean to tell us these places will be silent in October 2011?

My prediction is that by the time I am marching in the demonstration in Chicago on October 8, I will also be marveling at just how many other communities in the country have stood up together with us to oppose the Afghanistan War!